Tuesday, February 28, 2017

South Sudanese bishops call for food aid, peace negotiations

The bishops of South Sudan issued a call last Thursday for dialogue
between the warring factions in the country, and international
humanitarian aid to alleviate the famine affecting so many in their
nation.“Those who have the ability to make changes for the good of our
people have not taken heed of our previous pastoral messages … we intend
to meet face to face not only with the President but with the vice
presidents, ministers, members of parliament, opposition leaders and
politicians, military officers from all sides, and anyone else who we
believe has the power to change our country for the better,” the South
Sudanese bishops said in a Feb. 23 pastoral message to the faithful and
people of South Sudan.

“We intend to meet with them not once, but again and again, for as
long as is necessary, with the message that we need to see action, not
just dialogue for the sake of dialogue.”

In their meetings with government and opposition leaders, the bishops
will take as a model the importunate widow of Christ's parable, they
emphasized.

South Sudan has been embroiled in civil war since December 2013, when
violence erupted in the capital city of Juba and quickly spread
throughout the country. The war has is being fought between forces loyal
to the country’s president and those loyal to its former vice
president, and is largely drawn along ethnic lines. Peace agreements
have been short-lived, with violence quickly resuming.

The bishops' message came at the conclusion of a three-day plenary
assembly together with the apostolic nuncio to South Sudan. They said
they received “disturbing reports from all seven of our dioceses
spanning the whole country.”

“The civil war, which we have frequently described as having no moral
justification whatsoever, continues. Despite our calls to all parties,
factions and individuals to STOP THE WAR, nevertheless killing, raping,
looting, displacement, attacks on churches and destruction of property
continue all over the country. In some towns there is calm, but the
absence of gunfire does not mean peace has come. In other towns,
civilians are effectively trapped inside the town due to insecurity on
the surrounding roads.”

The bishops are particulary concerned that alongside fighting between
government and opposition forces, “much of the violence is being
perpetrated by government and opposition forces against civilians.”

“There seems to be a perception that people in certain locations or
from certain ethnic groups are with the other side, and thus they are
targeted by armed forces. They are killed, raped, tortured, burned,
beaten, looted, harassed, detained, displaced from their homes and
prevented from harvesting their crops … Even when they have fled to our
churches or to UN camps for protection, they are still harassed by
security forces,” they lamented.

They pointed to the famine facing more than 100,000 South Sudanese,
saying “there is no doubt” it is “man-made, due to insecurity and poor
economic management.”

“Hunger, in turn, creates insecurity, in a vicious circle in which
the hungry man, especially if he has a gun, may resort to looting to
feed himself and his family. Millions of our people are affected, with
large numbers displaced from their homes and many fleeing to
neighbouring countries, where they are facing appalling hardships in
refugee camps.”

Millions have become refugees or are internally displaced, and some
40 percent of the population is dependent on international aid.

The bishops expressed concern that some government officials seem to be suspicious of the Church.

“In some areas the Church has been able to mediate local peace deals,
but these can easily be undermined if government officials are removed
and replaced with hardliners who do not welcome Church efforts for
peace. Priests, sisters and other personnel have been harassed.”

They detailed that Catholic radio programs have been removed, and
churches burnt down.

In May 2016, a Slovak nun, Sister Veronika Terézia
Racková, was killed by militants; a physician, she had been working at a hospital in Yei.

The bishops also noted that on Feb. 14 “security officers attempted
to close down our Catholic bookshop. They harassed our personnel and
confiscated several books … We hear people saying that 'the Church is
against the government'.”

“We wish to inform all of you that the Church is not for or against
anyone, neither the government nor the opposition,” the bishops
stressed. “We are FOR all good things - peace, justice, love,
forgiveness, reconciliation, dialogue, the rule of law, good governance –
and we are AGAINST evil - violence, killing, rape, torture, looting,
corruption, arbitrary detention, tribalism, discrimination, oppression –
regardless of where they are and who is practising them. We are ready
to dialogue with and between the government and the opposition at any
time.”

The bishops called on the international community to act to alleviate
the country's humanitarian crisis, and said they will continue to make
their people's extreme hardships better known across the world.

Speaking to the people of South Sudan, the bishops said: “We call
upon you to remain spiritually strong, and to exercise restraint,
tolerance, forgiveness and love. Work for justice and peace; reject
violence and revenge. We are with you … We wish to give you hope that
you are not abandoned and that we are working to resolve the situation
at many different levels.”

The bishops concluded by announcing that Pope Francis hopes to visit their country later this year.

“The Holy Father is deeply concerned about the sufferings of the
people of South Sudan. You are already in his prayers, but his coming
here would be a concrete symbol of his fatherly concern and his
solidarity with your suffering. It would draw the attention of the world
to the situation here. We call upon you to begin a programme of prayer
for this visit to go ahead. Let us use the coming months fruitfully to
begin the transformation of our nation.”